Supercoach BBL Final Word: Round 1 captains, PODs, weather watch

The Supercoach Big Bash season begins tonight, and there’s one key thing we need to remember.

Stay flexible…

You can get away with being a bit less attentive across rounds throughout the season, but it’s imperative in week one that you’re on the ball.

By this I mean checking the final team for each game that drops approximately 40 minutes before each game starts, keeping an eye on the weather for any potential rain, as well as any injury news that may be lingering.

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The final team lists though are key as players may miss selection or be handed favourable/unfavourable roles according to the order.

We’ll send out team lists on SC Playbook Cricket social channels before every game of the round once they drop, and also provide relevant analysis to subscribers in our WhatsApp community.

Be on the ball for round 1 and it’ll help set your team up for the remainder of the season where you can sit back and enjoy the action over a Christmas beer or two…

Let’s take a look at the Final Word ahead of Supercoach BBL round 1.

Weather watch

All weather is courtesy of the Bureau of Meteorology as of Sunday, 12PM. Forecasts are subject to change.

Verdict: The only major threat of rain at this stage is game one between the Scorchers and Sixers.

Showers and storms are forecast, but they may pass before the game begins so fingers crossed for a full game.

Monitor closely though as it may have an impact on key double game week players from the Sixers.

Looking ahead

The Hobart Hurricanes and Sydney Sixers start the season with two games each, making them the priority targets for round 1.

The Hurricanes also have a double in week three, giving them greater priority and also locking them in as the number one team to load up on early.

The Brisbane Heat and Sydney Thunder have the round 2 double, meaning there’s certainly room to fit a handful of their players in your round 1 squad in preparation.

The Melbourne Stars have the round 3 double and hold some early relevance, but aren’t priorities.

PODS and Super PODs

In the Final Word, we’ll look at the super POD options, the players at under 10% ownership (among the top 10% ranked coaches once rankings roll in) that could send you soaring (or falling) up the overall ranks.

They come with big risk, but the reward is immense if it comes off.

Shadab Khan – $117,500 – 8.5% ownership

The Pakistani allrounder will land one of the best roles in Supercoach batting middle order and bowling plenty of overs for the Thunder.

He has the prospects to be one of the best players in the game and starts at a bargain rate for his scoring potential.

The Thunder have the round two double game so he’s the perfect stock in preparation for that.

While he’s in super POD range to start the season, I actually think he’s a borderline must…

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Tanveer Sangha – $111,500 – 3.7% ownership

Shadab’s teammate Tanveer Sangha also appeals to me, despite not having as strong Supercoach credentials.

Again it’s a play looking towards week two at a player who will be locked into the team for the double and bowls on spin friendly home decks at the Sydney Showground.

While I don’t expect Tanveer to set the world alight scoring wise, he’s generally very economical, takes wickets and may even bag a few before plenty jump on in week two.

I will add though that the week one deck at Ninja Stadium in Hobart isn’t ideal with short boundaries, however you don’t necessarily have to start him in your team for the round.

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Captains

Naturally we’ll be opting for a vice-captaincy option at the Sydney Sixers as they have the double and play in game one of the round.

Captaincy will likely fall on Hobart Hurricanes players who have the double but play later in the round.

If you’re a bit more of a casual Supercoach player and don’t want to screw around with looping too much and like a Sixers player, just give them straight captaincy.

For vice-captains at the Sixers I think the two options are Jack Edwards and Ben Dwarshuis.

Both have great roles in the team and no risk of dropping out.

Edwards will bat middle order and should get three to four overs making it a prime role for Supercoach scoring.

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Keep an eye on final team lists as an additional allrounder could put his chances of bowling the max four overs under threat, but I like him as VC.

Dwarshuis will get his four overs and has proven a powerhouse lower order batsmen in recent years.

He was used as a pinch-hitter at stages last year and did so with huge success, hitting quick-fire 20s with the maximum strike-rate bonus to boot.

For skippers, it’s between Mitch Owen and Nathan Ellis for me.

Owen is a bit more high-risk, high-reward in that we don’t know how many overs he’ll bowl (if any), and therefore may rely entirely on runs to score points.

Regardless, with two cracks I like his upside despite being a little riskier, he’ll be my captain.

Ellis is the safer play as he’ll get his four overs and bowl at the death, and like Dwarshuis he can also produce some later order hitting given the opportunity.

For me, it’s VC Edwards and C Owen obviously pending team lists to come.

Most popular captains:

Mitch Owen 30.6%

Matt Short 16.2%

Glenn Maxwell 13.6%

Vice-captains:

Mitch Owen 13%

Glenn Maxwell 12%

Ben Dwarshuis 6.9%